On this episode of “This is Oregon Country,” we hear a log entry first written in 1841 by Captain Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition. Wilkes was born in 1798 in New York City, and died in Washington, DC in 1877.

The entry concerns the celebration of Independence Day near what’s now DuPont, Washington—the first time the holiday was observed west of the Missouri River. The site of the 1841 celebration was honored with a monument in 1906, but the monument is now contained within the boundaries of Joint Base Lewis McChord, and is not accessible by the public.

Wilkes’ observations were collected in the five-volume “Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition,” which was originally published in 1856 by G.P. Putnam in New York. This entry is from Volume IV.

In the selection, read by Feliks Banel, we hear how Wilkes and his men celebrated the nation’s birthday with a barbecue, a parade, patriotic music and the firing of cannons.